Stylistic classification of the english vocabulary

b) Question-in-the-Narrative

Questions, being both structurally and semantically one of the types of sentences, are asked by one person and expected to be unswered by another. Essentially, questions belong to the spoken language and presuppose the pre­sence of an interlocutor, that is, they are commonly enco­untered in dialogue. The questioner is presumed not to know the answer.

Question-in-the-narrative changes the real nature of a lestion and turns it into a stylistic device. A question-in- e-narrative is asked and answered by one and the same person, usually the author.

It becomes statement with strong emotional impli­cations. Here is an example from Byron's "Don Juan":

"For what is left the poet here?

For Greeks a blush - for Greece a tear"

As seen from the example the question asked, unlike rhetorical question, do not contain statement. But being answered by one who knows the answer, it assumes a se­mi-exclamatory nature.

Sometimes question-in-the-narrative gives the impres­sion of an intimate talk between the writer and the reader. E.g.:

"Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years". (Dickens)

Question-in-the-narrative is very often used in ora­tory. This explained by one of the leading features of ora­torical style - to induce the desired reaction to the content of the speech. Questions here chain the attention of the listeners to the matter the orator is dealing with and prevent it from wandering. They also give the listeners time to absorb what has been said, and prepare for the next point.

Question-in-the-narrative may also remain unanswe­red as in:

"How long must it go on? How long must we suffer? Where is the end? What is the end?" (Norris)

These sentences show a gradual transition to rhetori­cal questions. There are only hints of the possible ans­wers. Indeed, the first and the second questions suggest that the existing state of affairs should be put an end to. The third and the fourth questions suggest that the orator himself could not find a solution to the problem.